Discharge Planning in Correctional Facilities: A Constitutional Right?

Posted 4/19/2021 (updated 4/5/2024)

Discharge planning is recognized as an essential component of psychiatric care. Patients released from inpatient facilities can reasonably expect to be given prescriptions for needed medications (or the medications themselves) and a referral to a mental health professional who can provide follow-up care. Do the same expectations apply to correctional facilities, which today house so many people with serious mental illnesses?